The present invention relates to a tape-leading mechanism for an automatic packer that allows an operator to handle tape-leading operation in a standing position and includes a movable tape-feeding bridge to enable timely controlled tape-feeding and tape-storing operations.
For all currently available automatic packers, one example of which is shown in FIG. 1, the tape-leading operation thereof must be handled by an operator in a squatting position, so that a tape 40 for packing can be extended into a housing 50 of the packer via an inlet 52 provided at a lower portion of a side wall 51 of the housing 50. The tape 40 is then fed into a tape-storing chamber 54 in the housing 50 by a tape-storing unit 53 that feeds the tape 40 in one fixed direction. The tape 40 in the tape-storing chamber 54 is manually led to a tape-operating unit 55 for sending the tape 40 into a tape rail 56, so that the packer is prepared for performing a packing operation.
In an automatic packer disclosed in an earlier invention of the applicant published under Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 85216683, a tape can be automatically instead of manually led by the tape-storing unit to the tape-operating unit which operates to send the tape into the tape rail. However, the entire operation still requires an operator to squat and thread the tape into the tape inlet. It is inconvenient and troublesome for the operator to squat before the tape can be threaded into the inlet, particularly when the operator is a heavy person, an invalid or a disabled person, or a female operator wearing a short skirt.
Moreover, the tape 40 is wound around a tape reel 57 with a rear end thereof attached to the reel 57 by an adhesive tape (not shown). In the case the rear end of the tape 40 is unexpectedly pulled away from the reel 57 and enters the route of tape in the housing 50, the adhesive tape attached to the rear end of the tape 40 would stick to rollers forming the tape-operating unit 55. The operator must remove the adhesive tape before the packer can operate again. This condition will, of course, cause inconvenience and troubles to the whole packing operation.
It is therefore tried by the applicant to develop a tape-leading mechanism for an automatic packer that allows an operator to conveniently complete a tape-leading operation on the packer in a natural standing position.